MAINE ANTI-GAY VOTE ONLY THIRD TIME SINCE WWII ELECTORATE HAS TAKEN AWAY RIGHTS
Robert KC Johnson, History News Network - On Election Day, Maine voters (of which I am one) did something extraordinary. In record numbers for an off-year election, hundreds of thousands of us went to the polls and stripped from some of our fellow citizens the right to marry.
While the United States has a long tradition of advancing the rights of citizens who previously had experienced discrimination, once progress occurs, voters very rarely have re-imposed discrimination. In fact, passage of Question One marks only the third occasion since World War II in which voters had taken away a fundamental right that either the legislature or the courts had conferred upon a minority group.
The other two occasions occurred in California: last year, when Californians passed Proposition 8; and in 1964, when voters approved Proposition 14, which overturned a California law prohibiting racial discrimination when buying and selling homes. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually held that Proposition 14 violated the U.S. Constitution; a federal court challenge to Proposition 8, filed by former Bush Solicitor General Theodore Olson, is currently underway. . .
According to a Research 2000 poll of likely voters in Maine, voters under 30 supported marriage equality by a 14-point margin-as their counterparts over the age of 65 backed Question One by 15 points. National polls and the 2008 exit polls in California reflected similar or even greater gaps between younger voters and senior citizens on the issue. So by 2016 or-at the latest-2020, Maine voters likely will restore the right to same-sex marriage, as today's teenagers enter the electorate. . .
If support for same-sex marriage continues to grow, skittish legislators might well wait a few years, until less of a chance exists that voters will undo the legislation. That means, unfortunately for the state's historical reputation, Maine could very well end up the last state whose voters used the ballot box to annul same-sex marriage rights already on the books.
While the United States has a long tradition of advancing the rights of citizens who previously had experienced discrimination, once progress occurs, voters very rarely have re-imposed discrimination. In fact, passage of Question One marks only the third occasion since World War II in which voters had taken away a fundamental right that either the legislature or the courts had conferred upon a minority group.
The other two occasions occurred in California: last year, when Californians passed Proposition 8; and in 1964, when voters approved Proposition 14, which overturned a California law prohibiting racial discrimination when buying and selling homes. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually held that Proposition 14 violated the U.S. Constitution; a federal court challenge to Proposition 8, filed by former Bush Solicitor General Theodore Olson, is currently underway. . .
According to a Research 2000 poll of likely voters in Maine, voters under 30 supported marriage equality by a 14-point margin-as their counterparts over the age of 65 backed Question One by 15 points. National polls and the 2008 exit polls in California reflected similar or even greater gaps between younger voters and senior citizens on the issue. So by 2016 or-at the latest-2020, Maine voters likely will restore the right to same-sex marriage, as today's teenagers enter the electorate. . .
If support for same-sex marriage continues to grow, skittish legislators might well wait a few years, until less of a chance exists that voters will undo the legislation. That means, unfortunately for the state's historical reputation, Maine could very well end up the last state whose voters used the ballot box to annul same-sex marriage rights already on the books.
posted by TPR | 9:56 AM
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